


No Refunds

by Sureokaywhatever



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Retail, M/M, Pining, but everything works out, the tiniest bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:20:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24992191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sureokaywhatever/pseuds/Sureokaywhatever
Summary: Tsukishima works in a clothing store, and although most customers are forgettable, Yamaguchi isn't. He doesn't know why that is.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 39
Kudos: 207





	1. Empty Box

Tsukishima had been working in this clothing store for over a year now, so sometimes he assumed that he had already seen the most annoying customers possible. But the universe kept proving him wrong.

“I need to return these shoes. They fell apart after a week! I barely wore them.”

He took the box from the woman’s hand. “We can definitely do a…”, his voice trailed off after he noticed the weight of the box, too light to be holding anything. And when he opened it, his suspicion was confirmed. This woman was trying to return...nothing.

How do you politely explain something so obvious? He didn’t exactly know how someone could be ignorant of the fact that to return something, you actually have to return it. But he had been staring just a little too long, so with the air of a parent explaining something to their child, he said, “I’m sorry ma’am, but you need to actually bring the shoes here to return them”. 

“What? I told you, they fell apart! I threw them away. I can’t believe you won’t return these! I’ve returned things like this before and I’ve never had a problem!”

Tsukishima found this particularly hard to believe. “Again, I’m sorry, but it’s policy that we need to receive the item to return it.” As was the policy in every other store, ever.

“This is ridiculous, I want to speak to your manager!”

An excuse to hand this off to someone else? He’ll take it. “Of course, I’ll go get her.” And if he also took the opportunity to roll his eyes once he had turned around, well, that was nobody’s business but his own.

After explaining the situation to his manager Kiyoko, he returned with her to the register. After a while working here, he had managed to find a few things that were actually amusing, and watching his manager put her foot down was one of them. Especially since she was somehow incredibly polite while doing it - he was often told by certain coworkers that he could learn a lesson or two from her, which he vehemently denied. Out loud at least.

It took almost five minutes for the woman to be convinced that she was not going to get what she wanted, at which point she stormed out. Kiyoko thanked him for getting her, which he didn’t really understand, it’s not like it was an inconvenience to have someone else deal with the problem. It was annoying to go off-script with customers.

So as someone walked up to the counter to check out, he prayed to whatever gods there may be to keep them all on-script for the rest of the day - or his life, if they were feeling generous.

“Will this be all for you today?”, he asked the man who had just walked up to the register. Tsukishima vaguely noticed that he had brown hair and was shorter than him, although those were both fairly common traits. The man replied affirmatively, and then put his large stack of items on the counter. To his credit, although there were way more things placed on the counter than could comfortably fit, he only ended up only dropping one shirt on the floor.

“Sorry about that,” the brown-haired man apologized sheepishly. “I got a little carried away.” 

And as much as he liked to be apologized _to_ , instead of the apologizer, something about the situation demanded a denial. “Don’t be. A lady in here just tried to return an empty box.” Tsukishima decided he said that because he was trying to be a good employee...well, it was really more like he couldn’t think of any other plausible reason. Besides, it was in his best interest to keep the nice customers around, wasn’t it?

But he was startled out of this line of thinking when the man in front of him started laughing. “An empty box? That’s crazy! You must get a lot of weird people in here, I guess.”

Again blaming it on just being polite, Tsukishima tried not to think too much about the smile tugging on the edges of his mouth when he heard that laugh. It was strangely...something. Something he wanted to hear again. Was that weird? Most of the time he didn’t think of himself as a forward person, he usually thought of himself as the exact opposite. But he found himself wondering, mildly, if it would be unprofessional of him to ask the laugh’s owner what his name was. 

In a well-intentioned effort to not accidentally be rude, he replied to his statement with, “Yeah, sometimes. Most people are fine, though.” Tsukishima received no response to this, so he just finished ringing up everything and told the man his total. When he took his card, Tsukishima saw his opportunity and snuck a glance at the name on it.

Yamaguchi.

At least now he had a name for the face in front of him. But as for what he intended to do with that information...well, he had no idea. Probably nothing, since he wanted to avoid doing anything potentially embarrassing for him or anyone else, and it wasn’t like he knew what to do anyways. Really he should just move on from this train of thought, preferably before he changed his mind.

So, having decided on doing nothing like usual, Tsukishima printed out the receipt. “Receipt in the bag?”

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine.”

With the receipt securely in the bag, their interaction was over. Yamaguchi left, and Tsukishima stared at his retreating form. He blamed it on boredom, or maybe because Yamaguchi had commiserated with him, although neither of those explained why he had been so partial to that laugh. He tried not to think about it too much, he’s going to forget about it eventually anyways. 

When Yamaguchi had withdrawn out of sight, his gaze shifted to the clock on the wall. Three more hours before he could go home, collapse on his couch, and do absolutely nothing. Exciting. 

Snapping him out of his daydreams about his couch, the next customer - blonde hair, not brown - stepped up to the register. “Will this be all for you today?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never written fanfic before, but after finishing this show I needed to do smth lol. Not sure when the next chapter will be up, but it'll be soon, probably sometime this week. Thanks for reading!  
> (the beginning was written for purely therapeutic reasons lol)


	2. A Conversation

The rest of the week passed by in a blur, with Tsukishima working overtime after someone called sick last minute and then the owner, for some unknown reason, having everyone stay late to reorganize the entire store. Why was that necessary? It had seemed just fine to him before. At least his next paycheck would be slightly larger than usual. 

So eventually, before he knew it, Wednesday had returned. It had been a full week since he had seen the brown-haired man with the laugh - _Yamaguchi_ , his brain supplied, because he kept forgetting that he actually knew his name. Tsukishima knew the fact that he was still thinking about him after a week was unusual, and he’d assumed that he would’ve forgotten about it by now. What was so special about that particular interaction? A full week of reflection on it had led him to the conclusion that, for some reason, he had a - _small_ , mind you - crush on Yamaguchi, or at least it was something near a crush. An infatuation? He couldn’t quite think of the right word to describe a crush on someone you didn’t know. Which, really, was another thing. He was no stranger to attraction, or relationships, he had had a few in his time, even if his relationships tended not to last for very long. But he hadn’t ever developed a...crush, infatuation, whatever, on someone he had said a grand total of four sentences to. It seemed so out of the blue.

Like most Wednesdays, Tsukishima spent a large amount of his time pretending to look busy. It was their slowest day of the week, and it never really started to pick up until late afternoon. This gave him far too much time to think about something he definitely should not be thinking about, and he was worryingly close to actually asking if there was anything that needed to be cleaned. Although he most likely wouldn’t have gone that far, he was saved from the decision by a woman trying on about fifty things and only liking one of them. There’s his job for the next ten minutes at least.

While returning everything to its appropriate place, he turned around at the sound of a customer entering the store. “Hello”, he began, still focused on getting a misbehaving hanger to stay on the rack. “Can I help you find anything today?”

A pause, then, “No thanks, I’m just looking.”

“Let me know if you have any questions”, and now with the final item re-hung, he was free to turn around and recognize the man he had been speaking to. The man who, despite occupying a corner of his mind for the past week, was somehow more interesting to look at the second time around. His freckles stood out more against his face, when they weren’t drowned out by the harsh lighting near the register. But conversely, without the register as a barrier between them, Tsukishima felt significantly more exposed and awkward. What, if anything, do you say in this situation? With the socially acceptable greetings out of the way, he was unable to find anything else appropriate to add. Stiffly, he turned on his heel and pretended to have something else requiring his attention.

This was dumb. He needed to get a grip. He worked here, this was his territory, and there was absolutely no reason for this to be happening right now. But, to be fair, this was also his problem, not Yamaguchi’s. Yamaguchi shouldn’t have to deal with some random attention from someone he doesn’t even know, someone he wasn’t even aware knew his name. As a private person himself, Tsukishima knew how he would react if someone snooped on him like that, and it wasn’t great. The thought made him feel a little guilty. But he really couldn’t bring himself to regret it. It was just his name, anyways. 

Maybe if he had a chance to interact with Yamaguchi, he could clear him out of his system and go back to normal. Maybe that’s what he needed. Although he had already decided that there was nothing left to say to him that wasn’t weird, he probably just needed to think a bit harder. 

So that’s how he found himself walking up to Yamaguchi, who was still browsing the same area as before. The only thing he had come up with to say was nothing original. “Are you finding everything alright?”

At the question, Yamaguchi looked at him sheepishly. “Yeah, but I’m really just looking around today. I don’t want to bother you or anything since I’m not buying anything.”

“You’re not bothering me.” He wanted to make that clear. If anything, it was the other way around. “As you can tell, it’s pretty dead in here right now.”

After cursory look around, Yamaguchi agreed. “The entire mall’s dead right now, to be fair. Hardly anyone came in during my shift this morning.”

 _An opportunity_. “Do you work in the mall too?”

With a nod of his head, “Yeah, in the coffee shop down there”. Yamaguchi pointed in a vague direction. “It’s called The Grind. Super original name.”

“I’ve been there before. It’s really…cozy.”

“That’s pretty much the only reason anyone goes there. There’s a Starbucks down the hallway and the hipsters avoid it like the plague. We’re kinda like rivals or something”, Yamaguchi said with a grin.

Tsukishima matched the grin with his own when he said, “Maybe I’ll see you if I come down sometime.” 

And then he realized - that was _flirting_. He just _flirted_ in the conversation where he was supposed to be getting Yamauchi out of his system. He had totally forgotten about that as soon as their conversation started and Yamaguchi had started actually talking to him. Wow, he was so bad at this.

Yamaguchi’s reply brought him out of berating himself. “That’d be cool, yeah. I work mornings, usually.” He looked more self-conscious now than he had for their entire previous conversation.

And Tsukishima really didn’t know what to say to that, so he brought his hand to the back of his neck. “Well...guess I’ll see you, then? I have to get back to work, so…” He awkwardly pointed towards where someone was waiting to check out. 

“Oh, yeah, of course. Sorry.”

So Tsukishima went to go do his actual job, and when he was finished ringing the customer up and looked around, Yamaguchi was gone.

His plan to get over Yamaguchi had not gone well, at all. Because now he was going to have to go get coffee some morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by coffee, my ten dollar headphones, and viewers like you. Thank you!  
> (Yamaguchi just seems like he would be a barista to me...anyone else??)  
> (Also, I know these chapters are short, but I kinda like them more rn. They might get longer later)


	3. Friends

On the next day, Tsukishima debated if this was the right day to visit a certain coffee shop. After his deliberation, and considering that he was unwilling to look too desperate, he decided that Friday would be better. He knew that playing hard to get was obnoxious, but he wanted to maintain a certain air of aloofness that did not come from stopping in right away. If he could manage to appear more casual than he felt, it would be an accomplishment.

So on Thursday, he headed straight to work. He was working a morning shift that day, and he enjoyed these more than others, although they weren’t as common as an afternoon shift. The reason he preferred them was the co-worker who was usually on this shift, Kuroo. Although he was exasperating, Kuroo was really the best friend he had at work. They worked well together, and although they had contrasting personalities, there was a mutual respect between them. Tsukishima sometimes even enjoyed listening to Kuroo’s rambling stories about whatever had happened to him since the last shift they worked together, although he would never admit it. To be honest, Tsukishima had been annoyed by him at first, but after a while he had given in to Kuroo’s desire to be friends and was genuinely thankful for it. But again, he would _never_ admit that.

Today, Kuroo’s story was about the date he had gone on last week. Apparently the girl had gotten a phone call about a family emergency halfway through the date, and left, but Kuroo was still hopeful about the situation. 

“Did she text you afterwards?”, Tsukishima asked, unsure if Kuroo was aware of what had actually happened. When Kuroo answered that no, she hadn’t, Tsukishima suggested that he move on from that one. Kuroo wasn’t always the most perceptive person. _Remind me to never take relationship advice from him_ , Tsukishima thought. Kuroo seemed a little gloomy after that, but someone had to be the one to tell him. A few bad jokes later, though, he seemed to be back in good spirits and they returned to their normal dynamic. Which was mostly just making fun of everyone, customers and co-workers alike - and trying to stay out of earshot, but not always succeeding.

Like always, the shift with Kuroo passed quickly, and soon enough it was time for Tsukishima’s lunch break. He had plans with his friend Yachi for lunch in the food court that day, someone who was the polar opposite of Kuroo. He and Yachi had been friends in high school, and had grown even closer after graduating. Even when he was being annoying, she had always put up with it and made an effort to humor him, and he appreciated that about her. Tsukishima considered her his closest friend, and although he had never asked, he knew she felt the same about him. They spoke about pretty much everything that went on in their lives.

Which was why he felt a little guilty that he wasn’t planning to tell her about Yamaguchi. It just wasn’t a big enough deal yet to warrant explaining it to her, he told himself. It didn’t make the feeling go away.

He spotted Yachi’s blonde hair in the distance, and made his way over to her. At a closer distance, he could see that she had already ordered for both of them. When she saw him walking over, she stood up from her chair and hugged him - really hard. Tsukishima was always surprised at how strong she was for such a small person. He stood there while she got her energy out, hugging her back though not nearly as hard. 

When she finally let go, she said, “I haven’t seen you in forever! Anything new happen?”

By forever, she apparently meant two days, since that’s how long it had been. Glossing over that, he sat down and she copied him. “No, not much,” he said, trying to sound casual.

Her face grew suspicious. “Are you sure? Usually when I ask that you just stare at me like I asked if France had french fries.”

Did he really do that? He didn’t think so. Either way, he knew the look on his face had turned suspect, and he also knew she was going to push. He took a sip of the drink she had ordered for him. Hiding something from Yachi was a difficult task.

“Something definitely happened,” Yachi continued. “You haven’t denied it yet. What is it?”

He would’ve been able to not say anything if she hadn’t asked, but he couldn’t full-on lie to her. With a sigh, Tsukishima started from the beginning.

When he had told her what had happened so far, he finished off by saying, “It’s not really a big deal though. I just think I want to get to know him better, or something.” That sentence sounded so unsure because, honestly, he was. He didn’t really know what he wanted to come out of this. Just because something about Yamaguchi made him want to see him again, didn’t mean that anything really had to happen. At any point he could just forget about him and move on. But the thing was, he didn’t _want_ to do that. He wanted to speak to him again. And after that, well...after that he would decide what he wanted to do. For now he would just see what happened.

Yachi, oblivious to his inward decision-making, was happy for him. “I’m glad you found someone to be excited about. It’s good for you.” That was said sincerely, but then with a teasing tone and a grin on her face, “Took you long enough, really.”

Tsukishima let out a small laugh. It had kinda been a while, to be fair. He just didn’t go out of his way to find people. When he met someone, it was because they came to him. It’s not that he didn’t care, it’s just that he didn’t enjoy putting himself out there. It made him anxious. Plus, his social battery drained fast around strangers. Retail was definitely not his ideal job, but it paid the bills, so he managed to deal with it. 

He had known that Yachi would be supportive of him, however it still soothed his anxiety to know that she didn’t think he was being weird. He was trying his very hardest not to be weird.

But he still steered the conversation in a different direction as soon as possible, and they continued their lunch over less embarrassing topics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No Yamaguchi this time, but don't worry, the next chapter will have a lot of him. I just needed to develop some things before we get into the rest of the story. Btw, I finished the outline for this, and although I have no idea how long it will be, I do know what's actually going to happen which is a step up from before lol. 
> 
> Also, I have a question for y'all. With these shorter chapters I can update pretty often, but would you prefer longer chapters even if it takes longer to update? Please let me know in the comments which you prefer. Thanks!


	4. Caffeine

On the morning that Tsukishima had settled on for his coffee shop visit, he was overthinking. Overthinking because it had been so much easier to decide that he was going to go when it was in the future. But now the time had come, and he realized that this had the potential for awkwardness, something he desperately tried to avoid. What if Yamaguchi didn’t actually expect him to show up so soon? Or what if it hadn’t been soon enough, and he should have gone yesterday? 

He tried to ignore the ridiculous questions he asked himself. In the end, he just needed to take the plunge and do it. More questions wouldn’t solve anything. That’s what this trip was for, to figure out his own feelings, and hopefully Yamaguchi’s as well. If Yamaguchi disliked Tsukishima, then he wouldn’t even have to make a decision about where this was going. He would just try and move on. But if Yamaguchi felt the same, or close to the way he did, then he had to determine if this was something he wished to pursue.

So before that decision, some reconnaissance. 

Right outside the door of the coffee shop, before he opened the door, Tsukishima paused. He took a breath. Turning around was still an option. 

But he didn’t. He pushed open the door, his heart beating faster than usual, and his eyes searched the space for the reason he came here. The place was mostly empty, so it didn’t take long to spot Yamaguchi behind the counter, adding whipped cream to someone’s overly sweetened drink, and talking to an orange-haired barista. The first thing Tsukishima noted was that he was wearing an apron, and he didn’t have time to notice anything else before Yamaguchi saw Tsukishima entering. With a grin, he called out the name for the drink he had made, and moved over to the front of the shop. 

“I was wondering when you would show up,” Yamaguchi said, with a pleased look.

Tsukishima scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face. That was a better first line than he had expected. “Oh? I didn’t know you were waiting for me.” He sounded way more confident than he felt, but something about talking to Yamaguchi made his jitters fade, and their conversation became remarkably easy.

“Only a little,” Yamaguchi said playfully. “What can I get for you? Wait, lemme guess. Iced coffee, cream, no sugar.” Tsukishima smirked. Dead on. “Was I right?”

“Maybe,” Tsukishima said jokingly. He was sure Yamaguchi could tell he’d been right. “You’re pretty good at that.”

“It’s all about your aura.” 

Tsukishima blinked at him for a second, but then Yamaguchi burst out laughing. “Just kidding. I guessed. But I _am_ pretty good at guessing.” Which brought out a chuckle from Tsukishima.

When he had paid for his coffee, he moved along the bar to keep talking to Yamaguchi as he worked. This was going surprisingly well, and wanting to keep the conversation going, he asked, “How long have you been working here?” 

“A few months,” came the reply. “I go to the university here, and need something to buy groceries with. Also I get free coffee here, which is a plus.” 

Here another customer walked in. “Can you get that, Hinata?”, Yamaguchi whispered to the other barista, who looked like he had drunk five cups of coffee already by how twitchy he was. Hinata nodded and went over, and Yamaguchi’s attention turned back to Tsukishima. There was a lot of eye contact in this conversation, at least by Tsukishima’s normal standards. 

“What about you?,” Yamaguchi asked. “Been working in that store for long?”

_Too long_ , Tsukishima thought, but answered with, “About a year.” 

“Do you like it?”

“...It could be worse.”

Yamaguchi grinned. “High praise, I see. Don’t tell anyone else,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper, “but same here.”

They laughed together at that, and then Yamaguchi looked away to put the lid onto his now finished coffee.

“Here you are,” Yamaguchi said when he handed it over. Their fingers brushed when it exchanged hands, and Tsukishima’s eyebrows jumped slightly at the contact. 

“Thanks.” Tsukishima was suddenly finding it difficult to make eye contact, and busied himself with putting in a straw. But at the sound of Yamaguchi speaking again, he looked back up.

“So... see you around?” This was the most hesitant Yamaguchi had sounded for the entire conversation, so Tsukishima deliberately replied with the most confident thing he could think of. He’d flirted with him already, so what harm could it do, really?

“Of course I’ll be back, nobody else makes coffee this good.” He took a sip, as if to prove his point.

“I’ll take the compliment,” Yamaguchi half grinned, half laughed. “Oh, I never told you my name, did I? It’s Yamaguchi.”

Not wanting him to know that he already knew his name from snooping, Tsukishima pretended like this was new information, and offered his own name. “Tsukishima.”

He received a nod in return for that, but then Yamaguchi gestured to the now-busy shop and said, “I really have to get back to work now, but...”

Tsukishima finished his sentence for him. “See you around.” They shared one last mutual smile, and then Tsukishima turned and left, coffee in hand. As he pushed open the door, he spotted something drawn on the plastic cup. On closer inspection, he realized it was a small drawing of a cat face with whiskers, and next to it were the words, ‘See you around!’. Oh boy. This was getting to be a lot. He needed to talk about this with someone.

Once he was out of view of a certain brown-haired barista, he fished his phone out of his pocket and called Yachi.

“Do you have time for lunch again today? There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

*****

Tsukishima entered the store where he worked with new plans for lunch later. But with that being four hours in the future, his attention turned to clocking in and getting into customer service mode. 

There was no Kuroo today, but that was probably a good thing. Since Tsukishima himself had noticed that he was in a particularly good mood that morning, Kuroo probably would’ve as well. Although Kuroo wasn’t always the most observant person, he had his moments of awareness, and Tsukishima was glad he didn’t have to worry about explaining himself.

But yes, Tsukishima was well aware that he was being easier on people who irritated him today. He had been so nervous before, but now he could hardly even remember why. Their conversation had been so effortless, and Tsukishima could remember his nerves fading within the first sentence they had spoken to each other. And his worries about Yamaguchi not wanting to see him appeared to be unfounded. Yamaguchi seemed like he was glad Tsukishima had come. And that drawing… you don’t do that for people you don’t like, right?

_Just make sure you stay realistic about this though_ , he reminded himself. _He was at work. He has to be nice to everyone_. It hadn’t happened to him, but his female coworkers had told him stories about customers flirting with them and thinking they were flirting back, just because they smiled at them or something. He didn’t want to accidentally do that to Yamaguchi. But still, their conversation _had_ gone better than he thought it would, not even considering the drawing, and he had already decided to go back at some point. He could barely even bring himself to consider not going. It just felt like he needed to.

Absorbed in thought, the hours until lunch passed in a flash. Although he would be reluctant to talk about this morning with anyone else, now that Yachi already knew about the situation he was eager to tell her about the recent developments. He knew she would understand his point of view, but also keep him grounded in reality if he was being too quick with anything.

He arrived at the food court before Yachi did this time, and sat down at a table. She often ordered for him since he basically got the same thing every time, but he was always wary of doing the same in return. He couldn’t remember her ever getting the same thing more than once or twice, so to be safe he just let her order for herself. Only a minute or two passed before she arrived as well, and engulfed him in the same bone-crushing hug as she had yesterday. He stood up and they both got in line to order. As it was lunchtime on a Friday, it was pretty busy and the line was long, so they started their conversation while waiting.

After the standard greetings, Yachi seemed to be getting eager to hear the reason he had wanted to get lunch. “So what was it you wanted to talk about before?”

Here it goes. “Yeah...so I went to go see that guy I was talking about yesterday. At the coffee shop.”

Yachi didn’t exactly shriek, but it was a little too close to it for a public area. “Yes! I knew you could do it! How did it go? Was it good?” She was so excited for him that Tsukishima suddenly felt lucky to have her, as he often did.

“It was good, yeah. It actually went better than I thought it would. Like, we had a conversation, and it went pretty well.” He had managed to avoid saying anything awkward as well, which he considered mentioning, but decided not to. 

“Did it seem like he liked you?”

That was the hard part. Tsukishima wasn’t skilled at judging other people’s emotions, especially people he didn’t know super well. So even though he was hopeful, and there was evidence to say that Yamaguchi did, in fact, like him, he didn’t trust himself to have evaluated the situation a hundred percent correctly. But Yachi expected an answer, so he settled on, “I’m not sure.”

She poked for more. “But if you had to say he either liked you or didn’t like you, which one would it be?”

“I mean...I guess I would say he liked me, but I’m really not sure.” Maybe he should ask for her opinion on their interaction. “He asked if he would see me around again and drew a cat face on my cup. What do you think?”

She looked at him, deadpan. “If that’s not flirting, I don’t know what is. And even if it wasn’t, he at _least_ wants you to come back, if he asked that.”

That’s definitely what he had hoped for, he had just been trying not to get his hopes up if they were going to be let down again. But Yachi thought so, and he trusted her judgement.

At this point they had reached the front of the line, and after getting their food, they sat down to continue their conversation.

“So are you going to go back?”, Yachi asked with a mouth full of food, waving her spoon at him casually. “You should definitely go back.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna go back. I don’t know when, but yeah.” He had already made up his mind about that.

There was a lull in their conversation here, and when it started again it had moved on to Yachi’s work and how she couldn’t decide if she enjoyed it or not. But he was grateful for the change in topic. He needed to take a break from his own problems. They were getting annoying. So he let himself become engrossed in her stories, and laughed when she told a particularly funny joke. She wasn’t even specifically trying to cheer him up, that’s just what she did naturally. There was a constant tiny smile on his face throughout their conversation from then on. He really was lucky to have her as a friend.

He was paying so much attention to her, in fact, that he didn’t even notice a familiar orange-haired barista staring at him from off to the side. And he didn’t notice the man’s frown, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, everything is going so well for them. It would be a shame if something...happened >:)  
> Honestly this fic started off as just fluff, but I decided to add a little angst, as you do. But it'll have a happy ending, don't worry!
> 
> After your input last chapter, I made this one about twice as long as the previous ones, and the next one will probably be longer too. I'm trying to get over that urge to just post a chapter lol.
> 
> As always, thank you so much for reading! I also really appreciate those of you who leave comments, I literally get so excited when I get notifications for those!


	5. Frozen

Tsukishima always had the day off on Saturday, and he usually spent it by waking up at noon and lazing around all day. Sometimes he went out with friends in the evening, but he had no plans for that, or much of anything, today. His Saturday routine was pretty regular.

Which is why it felt so strange to be up before noon, getting ready to leave the house. Since he didn’t work that day, he had no excuse for going to the mall in the first place, but Yamaguchi didn’t need to know that. For all he knew, Tsukishima worked Saturdays, and had a perfectly valid reason to go to that specific coffee shop this morning.

Tsukishima, in contrast to before yesterday’s visit, didn’t feel nervous at all today. He was excited. Talking with Yachi yesterday had given him confidence, which he had needed to build up the courage to go back so soon. Without her, he probably would’ve waited until next week to return, but now he just wanted to go back as soon as possible. So he had woken up earlier than usual, since Yamaguchi had said he worked mornings. It was possible he didn’t work weekends, but Tsukishima was willing to take that chance.

When he arrived at the mall, the first thing he noticed was how busy it was. He didn’t often come here on a Saturday, although it was the busiest day of the week. When he passed by the store where he worked, he picked up his pace to avoid letting any of his coworkers spot him.

The coffee shop was usually a minute’s walk from the entrance, but Tsukishima felt like he had made record time walking there.

When he got there, without any hesitation, Tsukishima pushed open the lightweight door to his destination. Like last time he spotted Yamaguchi right away, but it took slightly longer because the shop was exceedingly more crowded than it had been yesterday. It _was_ a Saturday morning, he supposed. There was a line today, so he stepped into it and waited. After a minute or so, he reached the counter, and lucky for him, Yamaguchi was the one taking the orders today. Yamaguchi was still putting the cash from the previous purchase away into the register when Tsukishima advanced forward, so he waited a moment for him to finish. 

When Yamaguchi looked back up, Tsukishima smiled. “Hey.”

But at the sound of his voice, Yamaguchi froze. He glanced at Tsukishima, and then turned to look at his coworker, the same one from yesterday. They held eye contact for a moment, but then Yamaguchi turned back to face him.

“What can I get for you?”, Yamaguchi asked in a flat tone, avoiding eye contact. 

Tsukishima was confused. The tone was already so different than it had been before, and he felt his confidence slipping away. Had something changed? He tried to meet his eyes, but Yamaguchi seemed to be very interested in the cups on the counter.

Awkwardly, and after a slightly too-long pause, he answered, “I’ll just have the same as yesterday.”

Yamaguchi pressed a button on the computer. “Right. That’ll be 314 yen, please.”

After paying, and receiving his change, Tsukishima didn’t move right away. This felt so wrong, but he couldn’t even think of why anything had changed. Only a day had passed since Yamaguchi had been so receptive to his company, and now he wouldn’t even look at him. He had no idea what he was supposed to do.

When Yamaguchi noticed that he wasn’t moving away, he finally looked at him again. He looked conflicted for a moment, but then his features turned flat and businesslike. Tsukishima enjoyed the eye contact, but the words that came out of Yamaguchi’s mouth felt like a bucket of cold water being dumped on him. 

“There’s a line.”

Tsukishima glanced behind him. There was. And they were looking at him expectantly.

Reluctantly, he moved out of the way, over to the side where he would pick up his drink. The other barista behind the counter was the same one as last time, with the orange hair. Tsukishima vaguely remembered Yamaguchi calling him Hinata. He was the one to hand him his drink this time, but when he looked at Tsukishima, he had a look on his face that Tsukishima couldn’t quite identify. Annoyance? Frustration? Tsukishima couldn’t tell, and also didn’t know what he had done to warrant that expression. Had he done something to earn the ire of everyone that worked here? No, that wasn’t possible. He hadn’t done anything wrong when he had been here yesterday. But that’s what made this so frustrating. He didn’t care much for whatever opinion Hinata had of him, but the fact that Yamaguchi, for some reason, had developed an aversion to him was upsetting. 

When he left the store, he didn’t look back at Yamaguchi. He obviously didn’t want to talk to him, at all. Yachi had assured him that Yamaguchi had liked him, based on what Tsukishima told her. It was possible he had read the situation wrong yesterday, but he didn’t think he was _that_ socially inept. Yamaguchi must have had a sudden change of heart, and Tsukishima didn’t know why.

Whatever. If Yamaguchi didn’t want to talk to him anymore, Tsukishima wasn’t going to bother him. He would just leave him alone, like he wanted. See, this is what happens when he puts himself out there - he makes things awkward. If he hadn’t gone to the coffee shop in the first place, he wouldn’t be feeling so awful right now about something he didn’t even understand.

He should savor this coffee. He wasn’t going to get another one. 

On his walk back home, he wondered if he should call someone. Someone being Yachi, since she was the only one who knew about any of this. But he really didn’t feel like reliving what had happened, so he didn’t call. He was going to go home, and try and forget about it while watching shitty television. That was better than talking to anyone. He just wanted to be alone.

*****

It took Tsukishima a long time to fall asleep that night. He was restless. It wasn’t like him at all to feel like there was something he had to do, because most problems didn’t ruffle him like this. Especially not enough to mess with his sleep schedule. And the thing he felt like he needed to do - talk to Yamaguchi again - was pointless, he knew that, and it was illogical to want to. He needed to respect Yamaguchi not wanting to talk to him, so why were his instincts telling him to do the opposite? 

With this question on his mind, he finally drifted off. He had another morning shift tomorrow, and he didn’t want to be exhausted all day.

*****

At work the next morning, despite his best efforts, Tsukishima was running on empty. He barely even had enough energy to do his job, much less try and hide his state of mind from Kuroo.

“Are you okay? You’re acting weird - y’know, even for you.” Kuroo squinted at him.

Ah, there it was. Maybe Tsukishima should give Kuroo more credit, although he knew he had made it pretty obvious that something was off when he didn’t even make fun of the band of loud teenagers that just left. 

Kuroo was the kind of person who didn’t keep pressing for things you didn’t want to talk about, so Tsukishima knew he didn’t actually have to say anything if he didn’t want to. But since it was over, he reasoned, maybe it would be nice to get it off his chest. Especially since his incredible plan to ignore everything hadn’t produced any positive results yet. 

Explaining it to Kuroo was somehow more difficult than explaining it to Yachi, but Tsukishima somehow managed to describe what had happened to him without sounding too awkward. 

“And he was just so...cold to me, so suddenly. It was confusing.” 

Kuroo hesitated for a moment. “Well, if you’re confused, why don’t you just ask him what happened?”

Tsukishima had an answer for that - it would be easier to just forget about it. Besides, that’s what he always did. He told Kuroo as much.

Unlike before, Kuroo definitely did not hesitate before saying his next words. “From what you told me, it sounds like you don’t even _want_ to do the easy thing. You think you do, but if doing the easy thing was what you wanted, why did you go out of your way to talk to him in the first place? That wasn’t the easy thing. You could’ve just never gone to that coffee shop. But you did.”

Having his behavior analyzed by Kuroo made him feel a little uncomfortable, but Tsukishima wasn’t so thick-headed that he couldn’t see the validity of Kuroo’s point. 

God, _Kuroo_ was giving him relationship advice? How hopeless had he been acting for that to happen?

And then Kuroo, possibly mistaking Tsukishima’s silence for skepticism, somewhat ruined it with faux indignation, “Hey, that was pretty good advice! I even surprised myself with that. You’re welcome for solving all your problems!”

Well, ruined wasn’t the right word, because there was the Kuroo that Tsukishima knew again, not whatever guru he had been channeling before. It drew a laugh out of Tsukishima.

“Thanks, sensei,” Tsukishima smirked, and then dropped a load of go-backs into Kuroo’s arms. “Now go put these away”, he grinned.

Although Kuroo might have thought Tsukishima didn’t care about his opinion, the opposite was true. He valued Kuroo’s input on this.

More food for thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the angst I was talking about haha
> 
> I knowww I said this chapter would be longer, but this just felt like the right place to end it lol
> 
> And guys we just reached 50 kudos!! It's crazy to me that so many people enjoy this fic that started because I ran out of Haikyuu episodes to watch. This is the first fic I've written, and the support I've received on this means so much to me. I know I say this in like every end note, but you guys are incredible :)


	6. Conclusion

Most of the time, Tsukishima preferred to think of himself as a realist. Pragmatic.

But he was starting to wonder if his view of himself was completely off, because a realist would absolutely not be entertaining the idea of going back to see Yamaguchi again.

And that’s exactly what Tsukishima had been thinking of doing for the past week.

It just felt like a part of his brain wouldn’t be satisfied until he had a real answer. It wasn’t just that Yamaguchi had rejected him, because if that was the case then Tsukishima would be upset, but he would be able to get over it. It wouldn’t be the first time someone had decided they weren’t interested in his company. But the fact that Tsukishima was confused about what had happened in the first place made him antsy. What had he done? Racking his brain had produced no answers. He just wanted an explanation.

And also, now he was able to see what Kuroo had been talking about. Tsukishima had been at a loss for the real reason that he had gone to visit Yamaguchi in the first place. At first, when Kuroo said that hadn’t been the easy thing to do, Tsukishima had agreed. But now Tsukshima realized that Kuroo had been wrong. It _had_ been the easy thing to do. To regret the decision not to go would’ve been so much harder, eventually, and subconsciously he had known that. 

There were a lot of things Tsukishima sought to avoid, and regret was one of them. That was pretty much the reason he didn’t put himself out there very often, in order to not regret the encounter. But the opposite had been true for his conversations with Yamaguchi. Even though he didn’t know him at all, really, and that latest conversation had been difficult, after he had gotten over the initial wave of confusion, he still didn’t regret anything about it. 

And throughout the past week, Tsukishima had been growing more and more aware that he would regret _not_ finding out what had happened. Even if this was the last time he ever spoke to Yamaguchi, at least he would have closure. That would be enough.

Thinking about this made one more trip to the coffee shop sound less ridiculous. 

So Tsukishima made plans to go back. On a Wednesday, the slowest day, so he would have the best chance of actually being able to speak to Yamaguchi without him being busy.

He expected himself to be nervous again, like the first time, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t so hung up on whether the encounter went smoothly or not. A large part of him, the part that wanted Yamaguchi to like him, still had hopes that Yamaguchi had just been having a bad day or something, but Tsukishima didn’t allow himself to entertain that thought much. Yamaguchi had to have a real reason for acting the way he did. Which was disappointing, but figuring out that reason would allow Tsukishima to move on, even though he didn’t want to. 

Wednesday approached and arrived, and Tsukishima didn’t allow himself to second-guess his decision on his way to the coffee shop before work. He refused to back out of this now.

The door closed behind him when he entered, and Tsukishima stuck his hands in his pockets. Yamaguchi noticed him immediately, given that he had been idly messing with the display up front. There was no one else inside - not even Yamaguchi’s usual coworker.

Straightening up, Yamaguchi moved behind the register. Tsukishima thought he saw his ears redden a bit, but he wasn’t sure. When Tsukishima reached the proper speaking distance, he tried to say what he had come for, but he couldn’t remember any of it. His mouth closed.

Yamaguchi, seeming to realize that Tsukishima was not going to start the conversation, said his usual line. “What can I get you?” Although it was said less flatly than last time, it still didn’t compare to the way he had spoken the first time. At least it was an improvement.

Maybe he should just order? That would give him time to compose his thoughts. “I’ll have the same as before.” 

Yamaguchi gave a small nod, but didn’t reply. Well, he still remembered his drink. That was a positive.

Awkwardly, Tsukishima took the money from his pocket and paid when Yamaguchi said his total. He was still totally blanking on how to begin asking what had happened. Automatically, he moved to the side where he had picked up his drink before, still thinking.

A minute passed, but when Yamaguchi looked like he was finishing up the drink, Tsukishima suddenly realized that he couldn’t let this opportunity pass. He blurted out, “Did I do something wrong?”

Yamaguchi looked up sharply, surprised. Pausing what he had been doing, he hesitated for a moment before responding. “What do you mean?”

“You know, how you’re acting so different. Like I did something. But I really don’t know what I did and I just...I want to know what happened,” Tsukishima finished lamely.

Yamaguchi took a longer pause this time, his brow creasing. “I’m sorry if I was acting weird...but I was kind of surprised that you kept coming back here. I mean, after...I guess I was embarrassed.”

That didn’t make sense. “Embarrassed about what?” Tsukishima couldn’t think of anything that Yamaguchi would be embarrassed about.

With a hint of nervous laughter, Yamaguchi said, “That I had, you know, flirted with you. When you had a girlfriend.”

Flirted? Girlfriend? _Girlfriend_? “I don’t have a girlfriend!”, Tsukishima said, too loudly.

Now it was Yamaguchi’s turn to look confused. “But Hinata said that he saw you with a girl, eating lunch. And you looked...smiley, I guess? That was how he put it.”

Everything suddenly clicked, and Tsukishima denied it again immediately. “I don’t have a girlfriend,” he repeated. “She’s just a friend. Not my type.”

Yamaguchi’s features flattened out. “Not your type?”

“You know. Girls. Not my type,” Tsukishima said, with a vague hand gesture.

“Oh. Not mine either.” Yamaguchi started grinning when he said this. Tsukishima thought it was nice to see that again, and started grinning back when he processed what Yamaguchi had actually said. “Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have listened to Hinata. I was talking to him about you, and I think he was trying to look out for me by telling me that. He likes to jump to conclusions.”

“It’s okay.” And that was true, now that everything had been straightened out. Even though it had caused him a bit of anguish, Tsukishima could forgive it. Besides, what was happening now was more than Tsukishima had let himself hope for earlier. It was just a misunderstanding, Yamaguchi didn’t hate him, and Tsukishima hadn’t done anything to cause it - besides have lunch with Yachi? There was nothing wrong with that besides the fact that Hinata needed to be less hasty with his judgement. If he’d just _asked_ Tsukishima about it, this could’ve been avoided. But Tsukishima was in a good mood now, and he could excuse it.

Yamaguchi kept looking at him for another second, but then he turned back to finish Tsukishima’s coffee. It only took another minute, and then he handed it to Tsukishima. He flushed when Tsukishima took it. Tsukishima wondered why, but then his thoughts shifted to the drawing he had gotten on the first coffee Yamaguchi had given him. There hadn’t been one on the second coffee, so if there was one now then that meant that they were back to normal, right? He turned the cup, looking for it.

When he found the place it had been before, there was no drawing. Instead, there was a nine-digit number in its place. Tsukishima looked up at Yamaguchi, who met his eyes, and smiled.

“You should text me. Sooner rather than later, hopefully. I already feel like I wasted enough time.”

Tsukishima smiled back. The feeling was mutual.

“Me too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaahhhhh it's done! This is the longest thing I've ever written of my own volition (I know it's not actually that long haha), but it was super fun to write!
> 
> Thank you soooo much to everyone who supported this fic, you really motivated me to finish this in an appropriate amount of time lol. I got so much more support on this than I ever thought I would, and I'm so glad you guys enjoyed the story :)
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


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